We Need New Heroes
by AutumnAgain
Summary: AU for Age of Ultron. Stark's robot was a bit more powerful than they expected. Warning for major character death.
1. In which things go wrong

**Standard disclaimer: I do not own the Avengers. Any characters and locations appearing in this fic are taken directly from the MCU or adapted from comics continuity unless otherwise noted.**

**A/N: This fic has been updated to mesh with canon up to the Vision's creation, at which point the timeline diverges (in this universe, the Vision's body exists, but the android as a sentient entity does not). There will be some spoilers. In order to comply with canon, some details in the first three chapters have been changed slightly ("Pym" has been changed to "Stark", the Maximoff twins exist, etc.) but most of this fic has been left intact. Thank you for reading.**

Thor swung Mjolnir with a mighty cry, destroying one of Ultron's bodies, but another simply stepped up to take its place. Before the god of thunder could regain his stance, yet another snuck up behind him. Thor howled as the robot pulled its arm away, leaving a gory hole where the god's organs were meant to be. His hammer dropped from a suddenly slack grip. Thor fell to the ground and did not rise.

On the other side of the floating city, a hail of bullets tore through Pietro's back. The speedster dropped. Hawkeye pulled the child he had saved closer, but as he crept out a second attack cut him down as well. In the church, Wanda dropped to her knees, screaming in anguish.

Steve hurled his shield as, elsewhere, Ultron hit Hulk with something he'd developed based on one of Bruce's unused ideas that had been stored on Tony's servers. The projectile took out another robot, but Banner collapsed, human and unconscious. Steve reflexively caught the shield, and elsewhere Ultron stomped on Bruce's head, reducing it to a red smear. Shield in hand, Captain America charged, but Ultron was stronger and one of them finally got lucky. It crushed Steve's windpipe. Shield in hand, Captain America died.

Natasha dragged herself to the church on her probably-broken leg. Crushed robotic bodies showed evidence of Wanda's presence, but the girl was nowhere in sight. Against the far wall lay a single red and gold form. Tony had sacrificed himself to give the remnants of JARVIS enough time to block Ultron from the internet. He was trapped in a finite number of bodies now, but JARVIS and Tony were both gone. She activated her com.

"This is Black Widow. Does anyone read?" She was answered by silence. "Rogers? Barton? Anyone?" She tried again, her concussion blurring her sight so that she didn't see the single Ultron droid approaching the switch to drop the city. "Avengers, this is Black Widow. Come in, Avengers."

"They're dead." Wanda seemed intact physically, but her voice was empty. She dropped Ultron-Prime's heart drive with a clatter that echoed in the church. "All of them are dead, and so is my brother."

Natasha opened her mouth to say something, anything, but before she could think of the right words the Ultron unit activated the drop. The city sped downwards.

Wanda telekinetically tore the robot apart, but it was too late. She rushed to Natasha's side. "What do we do?" she asked, and Natasha remembered that she was just a child, really, who hadn't expected any of this. "How do we stop this?"

Natasha tried to focus, but everything hurt and she knew there was only one thing they could do now. She met Wanda's gaze. "I'm sorry, kid. You didn't deserve this."

"Tell me what to do."

"If this lands, the world ends. We can't keep it from falling, so we have to destroy it. I don't have the power for that, but you do. You can save the world, Wanda."

"But I won't survive." Natasha nodded slightly. She needed this to end. She needed to sleep. "I'll do it. Pietro was all I had. If I do this, I can join him, and my parents." As the room began to glow red, Natasha activated her com for the last time.

"Agent Hill, this is Black Widow. We failed to stop Ultron." Wanda fell to her knees. Her power spread over the city, reducing it to ash. "We're destroying the city, but there's no chance of evac. The Avengers are dead. Recommend you assemble a new team." The city crumbled, pieces breaking off and crashing to earth while those on the Helicarrier could only watch. "Good luck." With a final push, Wanda destroyed the city entirely. She and Natasha died with it.


	2. The Fallout

**A/N: I still own nothing. This chapter is a merger of the original chapter 2 and the original chapter 3, as both were very short and thematically similar. The mentions of Black Panther and Wakanda have been removed, although they will still likely make an appearance later.**

"Recommend you assemble a new team." Static. The muffled sound of explosions. "Good luck." Silence.

Maria had listened to the dispatch five times already, after SHIELD had dropped off the refugees and Fury had given her leave to return to her room in Avengers Tower, but it had yet to fully sink in. She'd lost people before, but it had never been like this. The Avengers were like Fury and Coulson. They were fixtures, untouchable. They couldn't be dead. Not all of them at once. Tony had to be alive so that he could drive her up a wall with irritation. Nat and Clint were living legends to S.H.I.E.L.D., while Captain America was a symbol to everyone. Hulk was Hulk, and Thor was a god.

There was no way Stark's malfunctioning robot could have caused this much destruction. It was impossible. It was… it was inconceivable! She laughed bitterly at that. She'd watched _The Princess Bride_ with Natasha once, and the Russian woman had mocked Vizzini's arrogance for hours afterwards. Natasha was dead now.

Maria wondered if she was going into shock. She tried to look up substitute Avengers, but the screen was too blurry. She struck the monitor with her fist in anger, and her hand was blurred out too. Oh. She was crying.

She was still there three hours later, when Pepper came in to find her sobbing on the floor while Natasha's last message played on a loop from the speakers of the computer. The other woman didn't say anything, but she came back with a blanket and two cups of cocoa, which they drank silently, holding each other in mutual loss. At some point in the night, Maria fell asleep that way.

Maria woke up to the sound of the television. She was lying on her office floor, tangled in the blanket Pepper had brought. The woman was gone, and she had taken the empty mugs with her. She wandered out, into the common room that Tony had insisted she keep when she moved into Avengers Tower.

Pepper was on the couch, clutching a cup of coffee. The news anchor was reporting on the aftermath of the events in Sokovia. Maria poured herself a cup and tried to ignore it, but broke down crying again over the milk she was trying to add to her coffee. Pepper turned the television off and guided her to the couch, rubbing her back until she calmed down.

"What are you going to do?" Pepper asked, several minutes later. "Natasha put you in charge of recruiting a new team. Are you going to do it?"

"I don't know," Maria admitted. "I'm not Fury. I have S.H.I.E.L.D. behind me, but they're much weaker than they used to be, and they have plenty of their own issues. I don't even know if people will accept a new team after what happened to the last one. I can't—" Pepper caught her shaking hands and held her still.

"Maria, you can do this. I know you can. We'll list potential members, I'll help you feel them out, and we can bring them back here. Tony's lawyer called this morning. He left me everything," she laughed slightly. "Tony never did have many people he liked. We can do this, Maria."

"I still don't understand; how are you so calm about this, Pepper? I know how you felt about Stark."

"I accepted this as a possibility a long time ago, Maria. Not this exact situation, obviously, but ever since Tony disappeared, I've known that I could lose him any day. Of course I miss him, but I'm more grateful to have spent time with him while I could. Tony was living on borrowed time and we both knew it. I've had to accept it."

Maria collapsed into Pepper's arms. She hated feeling so weak, but she knew that the other woman would support her until she could support herself. She straightened and pulled away, brushing the tears from her eyes.

"Let's do this."


	3. Jane

**A/N: Still own nothing. This is not the original chapter three; that was merged with chapter two. Enjoy.**

"No," whispered Jane. Next to her on the hotel bed, Darcy sat frozen, eyes glued to the television. The reporter was saying something, giving some account of the destruction, but Jane didn't hear her. All she could think of was that _Thor was there_, and there was no sign of him, and surely he would have done something to get her attention if he could, and _what if he wasn't okay?_

Without making a conscious decision, Jane pulled on her jacket and ran from the room. Darcy chased after, calling her name, as Jane ran down the stairs and bolted outside because she needed to know for sure.

"Heimdall!" Jane yelled. "Heimdall!" There was a swirl of rainbow light and Jane caught a glimpse of Darcy standing just outside the hotel, gasping for breath, barefoot and wide-eyed, before she was somewhere else.

"Heimdall," she said. His observatory was still amazing and she would love to study it later, but right now she could only focus on the sad-eyed man before her.

"I'm sorry," he told her, and Jane collapsed. Heimdall patted her back awkwardly, clearly out of his depth in comforting sobbing astrophysicists.

"How did it happen?" she asked finally, when she had regained some modicum of control.

"Thor died a warrior," Heimdall assured her. "He fell protecting Midgard and all its denizens. It was how he wished to die."

Jane nodded and brushed away her tears. "Does Odin know yet? Or his friends?"

The watcher shook his head. "I have not yet sent a messenger."

"May I be the one…?"

"Of course, Lady Jane."

The walk to Asgard's capitol city was long, but Jane needed it to clear her head. She encountered no obstacles until she reached the palace gates.

"I need to speak to Odin," she told the guard.

He laughed at her. "He isn't seeing anyone right now. Come back later."

"It's important! I've just come from Heimdall and—"

"Look, wench, I don't care who you claim sent you, Odin isn't seeing anyone right now, especially not someone dressed like that. Now go away before I have you arrested."

Jane opened her mouth to retort, but she was cut off by the clatter of hooves and the sounds of someone dismounting.

"What seems to be the problem here?" asked a feminine voice. Jane turned to look at the woman and started at recognizing her. "Lady Jane?" asked Lady Sif. "What are you doing on Asgard?"

"I have something important to tell Odin, but this guard won't let me in!"

The warrior took in Jane's appearance – her rumpled clothes, reddened eyes, smudged mascara – and nodded to herself. "Come with me, Lady Jane." She turned to the guard haughtily. "This Midgardian is Prince Thor's beloved. I expect you to show her more respect in the future." With that, Lady Sif breezed through the gate. Jane tailed along behind.

They stopped only once, for Lady Sif to send a message to the Warriors Three, and soon Jane found herself in the throne room of Asgard. "Tell King Odin that Lady Jane Foster is here with news of Prince Thor," Lady Sif ordered a servant. With the message dispatched, Jane had nothing to do but wait.

After what felt like hours, the Warriors Three stumbled in. They drew close to Jane and Lady Sif, and Jane felt some of her tension disperse at the show of support. Several more agonizing minutes passed, and finally someone announced the arrival of King Odin. Jane followed Sif's lead in bowing to him.

"Jane Foster," said Odin. His tone was inscrutable. "What brings you to Asgard?"

She drew in a shuddering breath. "Thor is dead, your highness." Behind her, she heard one of the Warriors gasp, and another cry out. Sif only stiffened slightly, and Jane guessed that her words had only confirmed what the woman had suspected the moment she had seen her on Asgard. "He was with the Avengers, and they… they saved the world, but they didn't survive. Heimdall confirmed it. He says… he says that Thor died a warrior's death."

Odin lowered his head in mourning. "Thank you for informing me," he said finally. "Lady Sif, lead the Warriors Three to Midgard. Mjolnir is too dangerous to be left in the hands of mortals. We will hold a proper funeral when you return."

Lady Sif bowed. "At once, my King." Odin dismissed them, and the five returned to Heimdall's observatory together.

The place that had one been Sokovia's capital was now a crater, nothing but rubble indicating that something had once been there. Lady Sif bowed her head in a moment of silence for the fallen as Jane and the Warriors Three beheld the extent of the destruction. She'd seen it on the news, of course, but it hadn't prepared her for this.

"Search the ruins," Sif ordered. "Mjolnir cannot be easily destroyed. It will be here, somewhere." With an uncharacteristically subdued cry, the four Asgardians split up to sift through the rubble. Jane, who was nowhere near strong enough to move the heavy chunks of stone that the others lifted with ease, wandered aimlessly through the place where Thor had died. She wondered why she had even come; there was nothing here but death. Jane sat on the ground and absentmindedly stirred the dirt with her hand.

She felt a slight shock. Frowning, Jane cleared the dirt away from the thing she had brushed against. It was a leather-wrapped handle. "Mjolnir?" Jane whispered. She knew she ought to yell for the others, tell them that she had found it, but she didn't want to share her discovery with them just yet. Remembering Thor, Jane reached down and wrapped her hand around the unburied grip of the hammer.

It felt like being struck by ten thousand bolts of lightning all at once. She heard thunder booming in her ears, and nothing was real but Mjolnir in her hand and the storm in her veins. Jane raised the hammer over her head, the packed earth that had trapped it giving way easily, and felt the lightning change her.

The others saw the storm and ran towards its source. Jane saw them approach as she slowly lowered her arm. She felt the weight of armor on her body, although it didn't seem as heavy as it should have been, and glimpsed a red cape fluttering behind her. Lady Sif looked at her and fell to her knees, the Warriors Three following suit moments later.

"Thor," she said, voice filled with respect and awe and mourning. "Welcome back."


End file.
